Typescript String Literal Types not working in function overloading

Question

According to TypeScript documentation (look for the String Literal Types section), the following code should work on TypeScript:

function createElement(tagName: "img"): HTMLImageElement;

function createElement(tagName: "input"): HTMLInputElement;

// ... more overloads ...



function createElement(tagName: string): Element {

    // ... code goes here ...

}

When I run the code, or some more meaningful variation, on TypeScript Playground, or on Visual Studio, I get the following error:

Specialized overload signature is not assignable to any non-specialized signature.

Any suggestion? I came to this error after trying to implement something very similar on my own code.

Recommended for you: Get network issues from WhatsUp Gold. Not end users.

Answer 1

Did you try to start with a non specialized signature?

function createElement(tagName: string): Element;
function createElement(tagName: "img"): HTMLImageElement;
function createElement(tagName: "input"): HTMLInputElement;
// ... more overloads ...

function createElement(tagName: string): Element { /* ... */ }

```

Typescript String Literal Types not working in function overloading

Sign up